This Could Be Anywhere in the World
by paraparadigm
Summary: Arthur Kirkland is an elementary school teacher with a simple, happy life, until the day he's told he'll be working with a rather difficult student teacher with just one chance left. He just never bargained on meeting a man like Alfred. UsUk AU
1. Chapter 1

_"Remember that not all words are meant to be spoken. Forever is a promise and love is the key."  
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It was the smell of fresh baked bread and the faintest whiff of daisies in the chill soft breeze, and it was the soft spring sunlight dancing across his weathered palms that made Arthur Kirkland set aside his morning cup of earl grey and slip off into thought. The cloying whisper of the plants in his garden swaying against one another created a cocoon of sound about his now small frame as it huddled into itself against the wind. Faded clover eyes drifted shut as thinning silver hair flitted across his brow. He was an old man now, given to flights of fancy when thoughts of the past reared their wizened heads. The tiniest of remembrances threatening to send him back to his youth with only the slightest warning.

Back to when the only ache in his body came from chasing down his grade three class of rather unruly children. And despite the rather extensive amount of energy he had to put into making them behave long enough for him to teach them their multiplication tables he had found it to be a rewarding job, one that had him shuffling home to his tidy bachelor's apartment with a satisfied and slightly lazy smile decorating his face. Of course, this was only until the day he heard that he was to have a student teacher working under him for the entirety of the coming school year. Apparently the bloke had been having such a terrible time of it over the past year that his professors were down to their last, desperate option.

To make him teach children.

The old man chuckled now to think of the horror it had brought him then. That his profession would be considered a last resort for an obviously inept student. What a headstrong young fool he'd been, exasperated at the mere mention of trouble on the horizon! Granted, that first horror was nothing in comparison to the fear that had lodged itself his chest when the exuberant man tripped into his classroom with a sloppy grin and an over-full mug of coffee.

From that little introduction alone he should have known that his world would never be the same. At the time the only reaction he could manage was a deep sigh as he glanced up from the freshly printed lesson plans on his desk. He remembered with a surprising clarity how the man's face seemed to crumple just before he dropped his gaze to floor and dragged his feet the rest of the way to the small desk Arthur had thoughtfully set up next to his own.

A decision he was already beginning to regret.

Arthur found himself sighing in that self analytic way of the elderly as he wrapped his frail fingers about the china cup he had previously set aside as the memories continued to wash over him bit by bit. He could smell that too strong coffee now, could hear the excited buzz of children in the hallway in the final minutes before the first bell rang. And he could see Alfred Jones as clearly as he could see the empty chair on the opposite side of the table.

He took a sip of his now lukewarm tea and he gave himself over to the past completely.

* * *

><p>"It's Jones, isn't it?" After taking a moment to regain his composure Arthur trusted himself to speak without sounding too much like a blithering idiot. When the man responded only with a quirked eyebrow and a subtle sloping of his rather wide shoulders he took this as the only affirmation he was likely to get. He bit his lip to stop himself from making a snap comment about manners and introductions, settling instead for "I'll introduce you to the students after the morning announcements, then I'd like for you to observe how I run the class. When the day is done I'd like to hear your thoughts."<p>

A long slurping sound as the man downed what had to be a majority of his bitter smelling coffee was the only answer he received. It was no small wonder that he'd had trouble with his other attempts as a student teacher with a deplorable attitude like that. And yet, for some strange reason Arthur was feeling awkward under the steady blue eyes that were planted upon his every move.

His shoulders stiffened as he tried desperately to divert his attention to the day's lesson plans. It was difficult to not check the watch about his wrist for the time. To count the last few minutes before the bell and the slow steady hours before the end of the school day after that. He just didn't see why the man wouldn't try and make things easier for himself, but making friends didn't seem to be any part of Mr. Jones' agenda.

It was going to be a very long year indeed.

As if on ironic cue, the first bell rang and a throng of energetic children began spilling through the door. His heart lightened a bit in his chest as he took in their new and unfamiliar, if very eager faces, he had what was supposed to be a very good bunch on his hands this year. Only a couple pranksters scattered throughout the class and their antics were only a sliver compared to the delinquents that he'd come in contact with in the past. There was always something so rewarding about this job though, especially with the more troubled cases.

For Arthur it was always a wonderful feeling to be needed, to have some sort of impact on a person's life, and nothing was more changeable than the emotions of children. Regardless of what some men might claim, he firmly believed that the foundation of every adult's life was built on their childhood experiences. For as much as things change with age it was an essential part of human nature to look back to the past for guidance or reassurance.

This was why he had chosen this profession above all others, it didn't matter that the pay was less than desirable, it was the feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day. And no matter how cliche it sounded, Arthur held nothing closer to his heart.

The final bell clanged, the children quit their conversations and slid into their seats and attention (mostly) focused towards the front of the room and upon the unfamiliar face behind the unfamiliar desk. Their curiosity was a palpable thing, wriggling and full of static. Arthur resisted the urge to grin as the PA crackled and the morning announcements began, it was the usual list of things, like what was being served for lunch and a reminder that running in the halls, although useful in discovering future track talents, was highly frowned upon. It was not any of these particular things that had him wanting to smile so broadly though; it was that his previously stoic student teacher who was now quite obviously nervous at being introduced to the youths so eagerly staring at him.

Life could be supremely amusing at times like these.

As the Principle's fuzzy voice wound down the list of required material Arthur decided that it was silly to hold back a grin all for the sake of a nervous newcomer. It took too much effort to do otherwise, and he couldn't really bring himself to care what the man might think of him. Whoever was scared by children was really no one to overly concern himself with anyways.

There was a pleasant click as the PA system was shut off for the morning, followed by the concise sound of Arthur clearing his throat to bring the children's back to the front of the room, it having been diverted by more interesting things while the announcements were running. For a moment his eyes flickered to the obviously uncomfortable man at the desk next to his own as he began to speak.

"Good morning class, today I'd like to introduce you to a special person who will be working with us for the entirety of this school year. Mr. Jones here will be helping me design your assignments and special activities, and if he's lucky I might even teach him how to play heads up seven up for rainy days, now how does that sound to you?" His voice had warmly drifted out as he stood from his desk to move towards the chalk board.

As was expected, a general ruckus of exuberant good will rang back out at him and made Alfred Jones squirm in his seat.

"Try your best to make him feel welcome, he seems to be the shy type, but no great worries, we'll have him joining in our fun won't we?" In a seemingly contradictory move he wrote the words "Multiplication Tables" on the board as the kids moved from laughing to groaning at the site of such a menacing subject at the start of their day. There was nothing quite so awful as long division when at that age, a true terror to behold, but at the very least Arthur had managed to bring it about in a not so menacing way.

It was just a quick overview for the first day, so as not to scare the youngsters too quickly.

From behind his strange new desk Alfred Jones watched this exchange between student and teacher with a rapt sort of fascination, at least, since the attention on him had seemed to cool down a decent bit. He hadn't really seen such an easy exchange in a classroom in what felt like forever, if his college professors had been this cheery with their students, then maybe he wouldn't have found himself here in the first place.

But even all this was beginning to not look so terrible now.

From what he had heard, the man who was now calmly going over the rudimentary basics of Multiplication was supposed to be some sort of genius that Alfred's teachers figured could help anyone. That he had found himself being lumped in with a bunch of elementary school children had offended him at first, he wasn't exactly stupid, he just couldn't work with the jerks that were high school teachers. Of course, he didn't know what this guy had been told about him yet, so he didn't want to get too excited, though he couldn't help feeling slightly optimistic about this entire endeavor.

His attention reverted itself back towards the board, a small smile starting at the corner of his mouth. He wouldn't let on that he wasn't quite so uncomfortable about all this as he was when he stumbled through the door only twenty minutes before, just on the off chance "Mr. Kirkland" wasn't so kind towards older students. He somehow doubted that was the case though, he seemed to be a genuinely decent person, and as many times as his parents told him it wasn't wise to make generalizations of a person's character based on a first meeting alone, he didn't have it in himself to do otherwise. He simply liked to believe in the best of people. It was his greatest strength.

It was also his greatest weakness.


	2. Chapter 2

_"The cracks in the pavement match the cracks in their weathered skin."_

Alone in a slightly overstuffed recliner lay a feeble figure whose only sign of life was the soft whistling tune of his breath. If one looked close enough they might even see the feeble rise and fall of his chest under the heavy auburn quilt that was wrapped about him. After what had been yet another long day of seemingly endless existence, Arthur Kirkland had curled up here to fall into a sleep he hoped to be his last.

The weight of his brief fit of reminiscing earlier in the day had taken its toll_, _exhausting him both mentally and physically. The final fleeting thought that had crossed his mind as his eyelids became too heavy to hold up for a moment longer had been simple enough.

He would give absolutely anything to be reunited with Alfred again.

* * *

><p>When class was dismissed for lunch Arthur found himself caught between a mixture of relief and anxiety. Relief that the children would be more focused after lunch, (like this bunch was wont to be), and anxiety over forcing a half hours worth of conversation with a young man that hadn't taken his eyes off him for more than a minute at a time since lessons had begun. At first it hadn't bothered him all that much, he had dismissed it as the boy trying his best to be attentive, but as the day had wore on it took on a more studious and slightly disconcerting quality.<p>

For some undefinable reason Arthur had gotten it in his head that the bright blue eyes that rested behind a pair of rather thickly framed black spectacles had some sort of otherworldly quality. Like they could see every available flaw from the slightly unkempt quality of his dull gold hair all the way down to his fear of being useless. Of course, the entire notion was completely preposterous, he was after all a _sensible_ Englishman and he should very well begin acting like one.

He shuddered to think that his native characteristics were ruined from a ten year stint in the United States, not to mention a newly acquired citizenship. (He had really begun to loathe having to periodically update his visa.) Not to mention the tiny fact that he didn't necessarily have any particular reason to return to the UK.

That was another matter entirely, and one he preferred not to dwell upon at this particular moment.

Instead he had turned all his attention upon Alfred Jones, who was now furiously rummaging through a battered looking messenger bag with such vigor as to suggest he knew what he was looking for couldn't possibly be among the scattered contents. A heavy sigh followed by a large suntanned hand running through wheat colored hair confirmed Arthur's hypothesis. Of course, he didn't have long to savor this mental triumph before the man spoke up for himself.

"I don't have to eat with all you teachers do I? I kind of forgot my lunch at home, so I'm just gonna grab a burger or something." His voice was a little brusque, making Arthur wonder if it was the same tone he had heard from the young man just a few hours earlier.

"It's not required, just suggested so you have the chance to mingle with everyone." He licked his lips after he spoke, noticing they had cracked from going such a lengthy time without taking a drink from the mostly full mug of tea currently sitting next to the days lesson plans. During this tiny movement he had suddenly reclaimed all of the younger man's aforementioned, (and slightly creepy), attentions. Those blue eyes once more boring into him.

"In that case, I'm outta here." There was a pause, as if the man was somehow able to see Arthur's internal flush. "Unless you wanna come along?"

"I'm good...Have my lunch all packed here, you go along and have fun."

"Whatever, your loss man." The stunning smile as Alfred swung his bag across his wide shoulders was enough to make Arthur very nearly reconsider. That was, of course, until he remembered their situation here, this being that this young man was currently his student. Not to mention the sheer idiocy of letting a man he'd only shared a handful of words with get to him.

He still couldn't help glancing after the young man as he sauntered out of the room. After mentally chastising himself for his silly behavior Arthur slumped down into the familiar chair behind his familiar desk, sighing as he realized that he too had left his lunch at home. Rather than give Alfred the satisfaction of seeing fast food wrappings in his bin once class began, he let out a heavy sigh before making his way of to the cafeteria.

Pride just might be the end of him.

After consequently scarfing down what was supposedly some kind of chicken fried steak, (a brown and chewy glob that made even _his_ cooking look edible), he ducked out of the teacher's lounge before anyone could pounce on him and demand to know how he'd spent his summer. He was in luck that the gossips had already found a victim out of the new physical education teacher, saving him from the would be ravishing of the single teachers brigade for another school year.

He would have thought that the novelty of being a foreigner in a small Midwestern town would have faded after the first couple years, but there were still a few stragglers who couldn't seem to leave him alone. Arthur truly wouldn't have minded the attention so much if they were more clever about it, (blatant sexual advances not being his particular fetish), unfortunately that didn't seem to be the approach of most American women nowadays.

The mystery was completely ruined,making for roughly five rather unsuccessful dates over the past two years. It would have been a truly depressing statistic if not for the small convenience of being completely absorbed by his job. If he wasn't teaching, well, he'd probably be a depressing sod of a man.

All self-analysis aside, a quick glance at the watch constantly perched about his wrist showed that he only had five minutes before his class came rushing back with new energy coursing through their veins. With that, thoughts turned towards the easier path of lesson plans. The day's English lesson would be simple enough, then he could send them off towards their art class, then recess followed by wrapping up the day with a reading lesson.

It was simple enough, and after a short talk with that Alfred on what his duties would be to start with he could head home and relax the evening away.

Perfectly and peaceably alone.

"Have a good break eh, Arthur?" The sudden presence of a clanging, and all too familiar voice jarred him from the happy thought that had previously calmed Arthur. He sighed, wishing now that the bell would ring early.

"It was too good to last." He turned to face the small and rather round figure of Miss Erin Hill, one of three other teachers that taught Grade Three, and a rather loud, nosy woman at that.

"How it always goes, how it always goes. Gotta pretty decent set of brats this year, what about you?" He took a breath to reply and was not the least bit surprised when she beat him to the punch. "Suppose it doesn't matter in your case, what with you bein a miracle worker and all that. But I hear you got that troubled kid from the University. Guess if there's anyone who won't go crazy with someone of that sort it'd be you."

"He's really not all-"

"No need to make excuses for unteachable Arty, I'll just think positive for ya. And if you ever need an ear you know where my class is." She winked a heavily eye shadowed eye at him before scuttling off down the hallway. Arthur shook his head as if the mere motion could dispel the voice from his ears, and was shocked when another, (and not entirely unpleasant), tone filled the space left behind.

"Okay, I'm _totally_ glad I didn't stay for lunch." A good natured chuckle followed this statement as the self-same "troubled kid" popped up next to him. "You might want to take me up on it next time man, cause that chick doesn't look like a very happy meal."

It took all of Arthur's general self-control to not heave a sigh and trudge the rest of the way back to his desk wondering just when the bloody hell the day would be over. Instead, he found another facade cracking, along with a slightly crooked grin starting at the right corner of his mouth and spreading rather quickly.

"You'd get that one right Mr. Jones."

"Just call me Alfred, _Mr. Kirkland_." Arthur didn't even bother to contain the low and surprisingly sincere chuckle that escaped at the half mocking tone the young man used.

"Fair enough, you can call me Arthur."

"I heard that chick call you Arty, why can't I?"

"Don't push your luck Mr. Jones." The bell clanged just above the two men's ears, a clamor quickly muted by the sound of children rushing back to their classes with bellies now full and sugar rushing through their veins. Arthur found himself laughing once more as his supposedly troubled student teacher shot his tongue out at him in a way that he only ever expected from his younger students.

"I'd race you, but I'd hate to be drafted for your guy's track team, I hear it's awful."

"It's alright, you wouldn't win anyways,_ Alfred_."

"We'll see about that one day old man, just you wait and see."

As Arthur's class rushed past him, making it to their desks before the laughter had even faded from his eyes, he found himself sincerely looking forward to that day and whenever it might possibly come. Perhaps this was what if felt like to finally make a friend?

He couldn't recall ever feeling so blissfully and stupidly happy over something so small. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time that someone other than an eager child finally figuring out that one tough question that had eluded them had made him smile. Before that morning, he wouldn't have seen that as a sad existence.

Now he was beginning to wonder.

***xxx***

_A/n: I'll try and keep my blathering short here everyone. Mostly I'd like to thank everyone who's read so far, and the people that just started this time around, so thanks! The advice and support I've received so far has been really awesome. I'm going to try and update as regularly as possible, though I'm not going to rush this one, it's a little too special to me for that. In any case I hope that you'll stick with Arthur to the very end! Much love, ciao til next time!  
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